Last time on Hyperdimension Overclocked, Andrew played games with Neptune and kicked her ass at them! Then they went to to do some quests... and Andrew did not have breakfast! Lets see how this goes.

Neptune drags Andrew at the place where they have the quests in Planeptune, the Guild. A whole bunch of people are looking over them to find the best ones, including a peculiar duo.

Andrew looks at the crowd of people, "Boy... how are we going to get past this many people?"

Neptune looks for an opening and points at a spot, "Over there with those animals! It won't be too hard to sneak past them."

Andrew shrugs, "Ok... you're the one with any idea how this works."

Neptune goes over to the small animals and says, "Excuse us, we need to find some awesome quests so if you just move over that will be great!"

It is a penguin and a cat looking over at the quests, the penguin replies, "Hold up... we were here first. You need to wait your turn, young lady." He is sporting a green santa hat and a red scarf, and he is a young emperor penguin if that is important.

Andrew asks, "So... there are talking animals here? Ok, now I've seen everything. Maybe..."

The penguin replies, "We don't live here if that's what you're implying. We just want to get stronger."

Neptune says with enthusiasm, "Us too! Come on! We might be planning to save the world for all you know! We need all the levels we can get!"

The cat says, "Can we just let them do their thing? I really like this purple haired girl."

The penguin sighs, "Ugh... fine. But on one condition..." He pulls out a katana out of his hat, "You must face us in a duel!"

Andrew's eyes widens, "T-they are packing heat. Aren't they just NPCs?"

Neptune replies, "Nah... they're just cameos! You cannot interfere with the main story! Get outta here!" She shoos them away with her hand.

The penguin puts away his katana, "Fine, we'll go elsewhere." He backflips away.

The cat looks around, "Aw... I want to be more than a cameo." He flies away with his tail for some reason.

Andrew scratches his head, "Ok... let's just find our quests and go." Andrew looks over and sees Nepgear picking out quests as well, "Hmm... Neptune, should we invite Nepgear along with us?"

Neptune replies, "That's a very good idea, Andy. Hey, Nep Jr.! What's up?!"

Nepgear looks over and smiles, "Goodness... you are doing quests, too? That's great! We can team up and do them together." She runs over to them.

Andrew smiles, "Yeah, this is my first time doing quests so I might be not much help."

Nepgear shakes her head, "Don't say that. I'm sure you'll be much help."

Andrew shrugs, "I dunno... I don't even have a weapon."

Neptune nudges Andrew, "Come on! You're always downing on yourself. You should stay positive like me!"

Andrew smiles a bit, "I guess I should, heh heh."

Neptune then goes over to Nepgear, "So... didja get any good quests for us, sis?"

Nepgear nods, "Yes, and since you're kind of out of practice, I've made it so you can work back to your former self in no time."

Neptune laughs, "Excellent, Nepgear! I know I could count on you! Let's go!"

Neptune and Nepgear heads off to who knows where they could have gone. Andrew tries following the best he could with his own two feet instead of relying on Neptune dragging him along.

They arrive at a wooded hollow type area, Neptune looks around and gets eager, "This is gonna be fun! Fighting alongside my sister and my new buddy!"

Nepgear looks around, "By the way... where is he?" Searching around for Andrew who doesn't seem to be here just yet.

That question is solved immediately when Andrew finally arrives in the woods panting for air, red in the face and holding on to his knees, "Ha...ha.. I'm here... oh, my sides."

Neptune looks at him and replies, "Oh, boy... this is going to be a fun one, I can tell."

Xelor states, "I can agree." Even if no one but Andrew could hear him.

Andrew says while panting like crazy, "I don't... ha... spend my days... running all the way to the woods. Ha... Why couldn't we just walk?"

Neptune replies, "Well... we can walk now if that makes ya feel any better."

Nepgear nods, "Yes... it's good to take it easy when we can."

Andrew gives a sigh of relieve, "Oh, thank the merciful goddesses standing before me... phew."

The both of them sweatdrops at Andrew's comment and Neptune forces a laugh, "So, Nepgear! What's first on our quest agenda?" Changing the subject rather quickly.

Nepgear puts a finger to her chin and thinks about it, "Let's see..." All three of them see a blue slime puppy thing hop pass them, "Defeat 20 Dogoo. That will get your levels back on track."

Neptune summons a katana out of thin air, "Perfect. Let's Nep them up!"

Nepgear summons a sword the same way, "Yeah..." showing a bit of hesitance to her voice.

Andrew looks puzzled from this, "Ok... how did that happen?"

Neptune and Nepgear rush into battle fighting dogoo and getting their quest done. Andrew says to himself and Xelor as well, "So... do I stand back and watch? Or... what?"

Xelor replies, "Maybe if you concentrated hard enough and not complain then you might summon a weapon yourself."

Andrew nods and holds out his hand and makes straining noises trying to summon something, "Damn it. How did they do that? Is that a goddess only thing or something?"

"It is not. You have to train your physical body first. A normal human cannot perform something like that." Xelor explained to Andrew.

Andrew sighs, "No kidding. Do you think jocks can summon weapons if they came to this world? Just the thought of that is frightening."

Xelor beeps, "Stop thinking and fight! You need to level up!"

Andrew shrugs, "Alright... I'll use my fists and feet." Andrew walks towards the battle and walks towards a dogoo and says to it without emotions, "Hey... how's it going? I'm going to kill you now if that's ok."

The dogoo pants at him and barks, Andrew begins to pull back a leg and attempts to kick it, only for the dogoo to jump on his foot and Andrew falls on his back. "Ow... not what I had in mind." He raises his leg and stares at the dogoo.

It barks at Andrew, "That's it. You are going down." Andrew sits up and attempts to punch it only for the dogoo to jump on his head. Knowing what it wants Andrew to do, he says, "Oh no... I'm not falling for that trick in the book."

He tries grabbing the dogoo and actually manages to catch it, "Heh heh... I got it." Andrew gets up and makes a menacing chuckle. "Enjoy your last moment of life, you worthless creature."

The dogoo whines at him, making a puppy dog face. Andrew stares at it, "Don't look at me like that. I need my levels more than you need your life. It's not easy, you know. And I know for sure you are tricking me because you are a monster that I need to destroy."

The dogoo whines more and licks his hand. Andrew expects it to burn or something as it could have been an attack, but it was just like being licked by a dog. "W-what do you want?" The dogoo barks happily at Andrew. He gives in, "Fine, I'll spare you." He tosses him away but the dogoo comes back to his side. Andrew backs away and it keeps following him, "Go away, stop following me."

The dogoo whines more, "What do I do, Xelor? Do you know what it wants?" Andrew asked in desperation.

Xelor replies, "From what I have gathered. It seems benign and it wants to play with you."

Andrew asks, "But I don't have time to play. I need to fight monsters."

The dogoo barks and jumps up and forms itself into a shortsword and Andrew catches it, "What? Can it do that?"

Xelor beeps, "This the first time experiencing it. They are known to have flexible bodies so it is probable."

Andrew chuckles, "This is sweet. I got a dogoo sword. Now I can help the goddesses."

"But would the dogoo fight its own?" Xelor asks Andrew.

Andrew nods, "Yeah, why would this dogoo betray its own for someone like me who is with the CPUs and are probably known to slay many of its kind?"

The dogoo responds by licking Andrew's thumb.

Andrew shrugs, "Who knows, but the way I see, it is just like many monster taming RPGs."

The dogoo barks happily in response.

Andrew runs towards closer to where the two sisters are battling and sees something really wrong here, "W-what?"

The many dogoo are piling on them with their goo and are trying to get into their clothes as well. Andrew immediately turns red from this, "I-I-I b-better go..."

Xelor replies, "It better not be the leaving 'go' or else you would get a mouthful from a certain angry fairy."

Andrew nods slightly, "Y-you're right... I need to help them." Andrew comes close to the dogoo pile and takes a deep breath, "Hey, dogoo. You're violating my friends' personal space. I'd suggest you bug off." He slashes them off of them one by one, clearing the land of unwanted dogoo.

Even with Andrew's attempt of clearing them off, more keeps piling on. Andrew thinks for a moment and says, "If only I had something to blow them away." Upon hearing those words, the dogoo sword morphs into a dogoo boomerang. Andrew smiles, "Neat. Just what I needed."

Andrew throws it and the boomerang spins rapidly creating gusts of wind around it and heading towards the piles of dogoo and blowing them away giving Neptune and Nepgear time to escape the goo. The dogoo boomerang comes back to Andrew and returning back into a sword upon arrival.

Neptune says to Andrew, "What happened?" Being confused by how they got free.

Andrew replies, "I'll show you later, I think you need to Nep up and get rid of these dogoo for good."

Neptune smiles, "You got it! Hey, Nep Jr! Ready for some double goddess action?"

Nepgear nods, "I'll do my best!"

Neptune transforms into her Purple Heart form, "Of course you will. You are just like your dear older sister.

Nepgear transforms as well and smiles, "Right."

The two ready their weapons at the dogoo, Neptune says, "It's a bit of a waste to use our goddess form for these, but I think we should do it for our friend, Andy."

Andrew gulps, "I-I'm never going to get used to that."

The two goddess' make short work of the dogoo in no time with a barrage of sword attacks and fancy combos to which Andrew never seen before. After the mess, there's even bigger mess... goo everywhere.

The two CPUs return to normal and Neptune cheers, "That was fun! Let's do it again sometime!"

Andrew laughs lightly, "Yeah... fun is the word for it."

The friendly dogoo returns to normal and barks which automatically catches Neptune's attention, "Oh, it looks like we missed one!" She pulls back her katana getting ready to slash the dogoo in two.

Andrew shouts out, "No!" Andrew closes his mouth in response to shouting and clears his throat, "I mean... please no. This dogoo is the reason why I freed you. For some strange reason, it likes me."

Neptune responds in confusion, "Huh?! But, it's a monster! It's supposed to attack and destroy, not this particular one because it's a weakling, but ya know what I mean!"

Andrew shakes his head, "This one is different. Please let me keep it." Andrew begins to kneel and puts his hands together in front of Neptune.

Neptune scratches her head, "I dunno... owning a monster is a huge responsibility and are you sure you are up for it?"

Andrew nods, "Yes, I am. I'll do anything, please."

Neptune gives a mischievous smile, "Anything?" Staring right at Andrew.

Nepgear says looking at all this, "Goodness..."

Andrew sweatdrops, "Y-yes..."

Xelor replies, "Why did you have to say that to her? She will get ideas in her head."

Andrew says back to Xelor, "I don't know!" Looking at Neptune's mischievous face.

A while later... back at the Basilicom in Neptune's room. Neptune cheers, "I win again!"

Andrew sinks his head in shame, "My leaderboard rankings is going down the drain at this point..."

The dogoo is barking happily while watching Neptune wreck Andrew.

Another round and the victor is Neptune once again, Andrew sighs, "Ok... I've let you win 20 times now. Can we stop now?"

Neptune replies in a singsong voice, "Nuh-uh... just a few more times."

Andrew lowers his head, "I was afraid of that."

Nepgear watches them play and looks at the dogoo and smiles, "You know... when these dogoo aren't attacking us, they are pretty cute."

Andrew looks over, "Yeah, I guess."

Nepgear asks, "So, are you going to name it, Andy?"

Andrew scratches his head, facing Nepgear, "I'm not sure yet... I haven't thought of a name."

Nepgear replies, "You should think of one soon."

Andrew nods, "I will."

Neptune cheers again, "I win again!"

Andrew darts his head back at the game and shouts at her, "Damn it, Neptune! I thought you paused the game!"

Neptune replies, "I was totally kicking your butt while you were talking to Nep Jr.! Excellent job, sis!"

Nepgear apologized, "Sorry, Andy."

Andrew lets go of the controller, "I'm done playing."

Neptune insists for him to continue, "No way! Come on! One more and that's it and you can play with both hands again! Please..."

Andrew gets up, "Nope... you've destroyed my rankings far enough."

Neptune continues insisting, "Just this one more and I won't do it again. Or maybe we can play a different game if that's what you're worried about."

Andrew remembers from last night and replies, "I don't want to play for too long and besides... we were just here to grab a bite to eat and then go back to questing."

"Aw, don't be such a stick in the mud, I thought you were fun! We can always go back questing... just a few more rounds." Neptune insisted to Andrew.

Andrew says, "Few rounds will turn into midnight and then we might get yelled at. Do you want that?"

"No! I promise that it won't happen! Trust me!" Neptune tells Andrew trying to convince him still.

"Do not trust her, Andrew. You know it will only end up bad." Xelor reminds Andrew.

Andrew thinks about it and Neptune gives swaying Andrew another shot, "Come on... you know that I'll keep bugging you until you give in."

Andrew shrugs, "I suppose one more game can't hurt."

Neptune cheers, "Yay! You're the best, Andy!" She pulls Andrew back down next to her and gives him the controller back.

Andrew sighs, "Who am I kidding, anyway? I just can't be bothered."

They continue playing which leads Xelor to sigh disappointingly at Andrew, "Do not say that I did not warn you."

Few hours later, Histoire show up and immediately yells at the two of them, "What are you two doing?!"

That catches both of them off guard which Neptune tries to come up with an excuse to get out of it, "Oh uh... we just thought that maybe we can take it easy you know... since there isn't really danger lately."

Histoire doesn't accept that, "You need to do quests to raise your nation's shares. This is your responsibility!"

Andrew tries backing away, "Err... I gotta do a thing somewhere else now... so..."

Histoire shouts back at Andrew, "Sit back down! I can say that it's your fault that you are keeping Neptune from doing her work out there!"

Andrew shakes his head, "No... I-I just... I like hanging out with her, ok."

"I can see that, but she's a goddess and see doesn't have the time to be playing all the time." Histoire replies to Andrew's response.

Neptune objects, "No! I can do both! I have been doing both for years!"

"Well, you have been doing more relaxing as of recently and it has been showing with the introduction of this boy here." Histoire points out.

Neptune objects again, "It's not his fault and I can get those shares without trouble easy!"

"Well, I wish I could believe that but for now... I want you to go back and finish up those quests and do not return until you do." Histoire orders Neptune.

Neptune gives in, "Aw... ok."

Histoire turns to Andrew, "You... I want you to do things separate from Neptune."

Andrew and Neptune both say in unison, "Aw, what?" With Neptune's being more loud than Andrew is.

Histoire frowns a bit, "I'm sorry, but until Neptune can get her act together, I don't want her hanging out with you. It's clear that having someone like you around is affecting her way of work."

Andrew sighs, "OK..."

Neptune says to Andrew, "I'm sorry, Andy. But hey... I can easily get those shares and then we can hang out again, ok?"

Andrew nods, "I guess so..."

Neptune smiles at Andrew, "So turn that frown upside down 'cause Nep Nep playtime will come back around before you know it!"

Andrew chuckles a bit, "Yeah... ok. I'll see you later."

Nepgear waves, "Goodbye, Andy. I do hope we see each other again."

Andrew nods, "Likewise, Nepgear. Bye, you two and good luck."

He leaves the Bascilicom and talks to Xelor, "Well, I screwed up. It's a shame because they are really nice CPUs and... I never had that much fun before. I actually have friends now, believe it or not."

Xelor replies, "You have done well, Andrew. Your mission was not the quests, those were optional. It was bonding with the CPUs."

Andrew scratches his head, "Oh yeah... I keep forgetting. So... what's the deal with that and... what the heck am I if I'm not a CPU?"

Xelor replies, "You're a GPU, Andrew."

Andrew tries to process that, "GPU? Isn't that a graphics card? So what does that mean here?"

Xelor explains, "GPUs are basically guardians for CPUs. They protect them with their lives and depending on how powerful a GPU is, they can power up the goddess. As CPU stands for Console Patron Unit, GPU is Goddess Patron Unit. They protect goddesses."

Andrew nods, "Wow... I'm a GPU. How about that? So, how do I get stronger besides leveling up? What does the bonding have to do with it?"

Xelor explains, "It will cause the GPU and the CPU to have a link-up and can 'overclock' the both of them, increasing their power even further. The higher your relationship is with the CPU, the higher level the overclock is. There are four levels, Andrew."

Andrew asks, "So.. do I have to have the goddess like the real me or the GPU me?"

"No. It does not matter which, but its preferred to be the real you, hence why I do not let you show them that you are the GPU. Also, that will unstable the link-up process because the bonding has to be gradual." Xelor explained to Andrew.

Andrew runs his hand through his hair, "Wow... so much to take from that."

"Also another thing is when you are in this link-up, you have access to one of the goddess' special moves and that is why part of your armor is grey. For example, if you linked up with Purple Heart, the grey portion will be purple and that goes for the circuits in your irises." Xelor added.

Andrew nods, "OK, I completely understand, so, how far did I get with Neptune and Nepgear?"

Xelor shows Andrew, "See and find out."

Andrew smiles at his results, "Not bad, but I can do better. Where to next, my good chum?"

Xelor replies, "Well... let's see what we come across first. You better run in GPU."

Andrew nods and transforms, "I like it better this way! Yeah!" He runs out of Planeptune and out into the Gamindustri world.

Where will he stop by next and will he ever see Neptune and Nepgear again? Find out next time! And yes... he did leave that Dogoo behind :P .

Fun Fact: The penguin and the cat in the beginning of the chapter are actually two of my characters of an independent series I'm working on just for fun. Their names are Ice and Scratch and I have used them for my other stories for just because. If you want them to have a larger role in this story, then let me know, and I can work something out. Until then... happy reading!